The Happy Florist

Mid autumn festivals which will celebrated in a few days is the Chinese celebration which is symbolized by the Chinese mooncake. The festival also called Moon cakes festival. The celebration is always indicated by moon. Chinese people believe that there is a legend of this festival, the Moon fair Lady.

Many years ago, there was a king in China. He was a brave man who did lots of belifits to the people. He admired a beautiful girl and made her stay in the palace so that he could see her whenever he wanted. But, the girl did not like the frightful figure of the king. She seldomly spoke a word in the palace. Each time the king went to her place, he used to show her some treasures and brought some gifts to the girl in order to make her smile and speak.

On every full moon, the girl would burned incenses and wax candles to worship the moon. People believed that there was a god lived in the moon that made the moon shine. Girls who wanted to be a beauty and have a handsome husband should worship the moon.

One day, the full moon of the eighth month, the king brought three herbs pills to show her.

“This is from the priest of the palace. If I eat them up, I can live forever.” He exclaimed.

This was the first time the girl stuffs he brought.

He continued,”If you and I both take one, we will both live forever. No one can take you away from me!”

Because the king afraid of the pills would have side effects. He forced the girl to take the pill first. If nothing wrong with her after taking the pill, he would take it immediately. However, the girl recognized that if she took all three of them, the king would left her eventually. Therefore, the first time, she spoke to the king,”Let me have a look of the pills first. Otherwise, I will not try at all.”

The king surprisingly the girl talked to him. So, he handed the pills to the girl. She did not say anything but eat all of them. The king was extremely angry. He wanted to kill her.

At this moment, the girl started to fly. She could fly because of the intake of the pills. The king could not catch her, but watched her flew toward the moon and disappeared.

After that, people believed that there was a beautiful girl stay in the moon with a little old man and a bunny. The old man was believed to be the god inside the moon and the bunny was his pet. Day after day, Chinese believed that there were people lived in the moon. Their movement made the dark spot when we looked up to the moon. People used to worship the girl to glorify her chastity. So, on every full moon of the mid-Autumn became a festival in order to memorize her.

Source : http://kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival/moonfairylady.htm

Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival and Moon Cake Festival, let us wipe away your confusion are in fact one and the same.

Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn Festival, as it is popularly known in the city, is, aside from Chinese New Year, Hong Kong’s biggest festival.

The Mid Autumn festivals sees the city draped in colourful ribbons and decorated with elaborate displays of lanterns, while restaurants will be serving up a variety of festival mooncakes, all this, as well as parades, dragon dances and celebrations around the city.

The date for the festival is set by the autumn equinox, when the moon is at its brightest and as with most Hong Kong festivals is attached the to the lunar cycle. Although festivities take place in the days around the festival, 2009’s main festival day is set for October 3rd.
Legend Behind the Mooncakes festival
What really turned the festival into the crowd-pleaser it is today was a man named Liu Bowen. In a plot straight out of Hollywood, Liu was part of 14th century rebel movement aimed at kicking China’s mongol overlords back over the border.

Liu came up with the ingenious plan to organize the uprising by concealing the message “Rise against the Tartars on the 15th day of the eighth moon, now the main day for the festival, inside moon cakes. The Mongols didn’t eat moon cakes, so they would never know.

The rebellion was a success and moon cakes and the festival have been a firm fixture on the lunar calendar ever since.

In recent years, Chinese mooncake makers have been getting creative with their fillings, from Haagen Dazs to green tea check our our Top Eight Mooncake Flavours.

Source : http://gohongkong.about.com/od/festivalprofiles/p/midautumnfestiv.htm

The Mid-Autumn Festivals (Zhongqiu Jie) is a traditional Chinese holiday and Taoist festival that is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, around the time of the autumn equinox. It has its roots in the Shang dynasty tradition of moon worship, and is held at a time of the year when moon is at its “fullest” — visually most large and bright.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is second only to Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) in terms of its importance. Other names for this festival include: Moon Festival; Mooncake Festival; Lantern Festival; Fifteenth Of The Eighth Moon; and Festival Of Reunion (since it is a time when family members often come together to celebrate). The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time when farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season, and when family members gather to appreciate the beauty of the autumn moon.
Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncakes
One of the most common traditions associated with Zhongqiu Jie involves making and eating mooncake: sweet round cakes, about three inches in diameter, which are similar to English fruitcakes or plum pudding. There are hundreds of varieties of mooncakes, but typically they have a filling of nuts, melon seeds, lotus-seed paste, Chinese dates, almonds, minced meats and/or orange peels.

This rich filling is held within a golden-brown pastry crust, and a cooked egg yolk is placed decoratively right in the center. The crust is often adorned with symbols associated with the Mid-Autumn festival. It’s traditional to pile thirteen mooncakes into a pyramid, symbolizing the thirteen moons of a complete lunar year. And of course the best place to eat the mooncakes is outside under the moon!

Other foods associated with the Mooncake Festival include cooked taro, water caltrope (a type of water chestnut), and edible snails (from the rice paddies or taro patches) cooked with sweet basil.
Other Mid-Autumn Festival Traditions

Other Mid-Autumn Festival activities include:
1. Creating an altar and burning incense in honor of Chang’e – the Chinese Goddess of the Moon – and other Taoist deities. Altars honoring Chang’e are set up in the open air, facing the moon. New lotion, bath salts, make-up and other “beauty aids” are placed on the altar for her to bless. (Chang’e endows those who worship her with great beauty.)

2. Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, or floating sky lanterns. Huge lantern shows are a part of some Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations.

3. Planting trees; collecting dandelion leaves for all of ones family members; and putting pomelo rinds on one’s head.

4. Performing or attending Fire Dragon Dances, or other performances in public parks or theatres.

5. Enjoying an elaborate family reunion dinner.

Source : http://taoism.about.com/od/holidays/a/MidAutumn_Festival.htm

See Also : Mid autumn festivals, Chinese mooncake, Moon cakes festival